Into the Light

Into the Light will perform from 6:30 to 8 tonight indoors at Woodland Park, 2100 Willowcreek Road, in the Sycamore Hall in Portage.
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PORTAGE | The Portage Summer Music in the Park series continues tonight with Into the Light, a Christian rock band. The concert will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. indoors at Woodland Park, 2100 Willowcreek Road, in the Sycamore Hall.
Into the Light is a Valparaiso-based Christian rock band, which came together in the spring of 2004 to provide music for the Praise Service at First Presbyterian Church. They call their music "Classic Rock with a Christian Message," and the record and their live sets reflect their influences: The Beatles, The Eagles, 70s arena rock, folk, funk and country. The music features soaring four-part vocal harmonies, layered guitars punctuated by sax, flute and keyboards, and a steady-as-a-heartbeat rhythm section. In addition to their original songs, they cover a wide variety of traditional and contemporary praise music.
They have performed at benefits for local missions such as the Spring Valley Homeless Shelter, the Valparaiso Food Pantry, and, at the Memorial Opera House with two other praise bands, a benefit for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
- The Times

Valparaiso praise-rock band, Into The Light, has self-released its debut CD, "Peace Be With You," an interesting and highly harmonic collection of no less than 17 original songs sung from the heart and clearly with an eye on the prize.

The seven-piece group has made a reputation for itself locally having donated numerous performances to aid in feeding and sheltering the region's homeless, as well as grassroots efforts to aid those affected the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

"Peace Be With You" -- recorded in the sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso and mixed down at Bear Tracks Studio -- rocks up in a rather nostalgic way through some well blended string-bending, piano pounding and saxophone blowing, tempered with a simple back beat.

The songs were written largely by guitarist/vocalists Bryan Bennett and Ken McAloon, and while the lyrics tend to be a little too "sunshiny" at times, the band's bright instrumental sound tends to get one's foot tapping on many of the tracks.

Musically speaking, Into The Light owes a strong debt to '60s pop groups like the Beach Boys and the Dave Clark Five, as well as to some of the more folksy artists of that same era.

While "Peace Be With You" certainly will not be "mana from heaven" to everybody's ears, those interested in hearing God's word likely will agree getting preached to was never quite so much fun.

To hear songs from the CD and learn more about Into The Light and the band's musical/spiritual mission, log on to myspace.com/intothelight25.
- The Times